Resilient heel.



B. W. BROCKETT.

RESI LIENT HEEL. APPLICATION men MAY 21. l9l8.

1,286, 169. Patented Nov. 26, 1918.

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BLUFORD W. BROCKE'I'T, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

EESILIENT HEEL.

Application filed May 27, 1918.

To all whom'z't may concern:

Be it known that I, BLUFORD W. Bnooxn'rr, citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Resilient Heels, ofwhich the following'is a. specification.

This invention relates to resilient heels,

such as are used upon shoes and other footwear.

The object of the invention is to provide 1 an improved resilient heelwhich clings to the pavement or other surface being walked upon andtherefore protects the wearer from injuries which otherwise *might becaused by slipping or skidding of the heel. More particularly theinventlon has for its object to provide a heel of this kind havingtransversely extending teeth or ridges which are so arranged as toresist slipping movement of the heel both forwardly and toward eitherside, which are self-cleaning, or in other words, which automaticallyfree themselves from material scraped from the pavement, and which heelis also. more strongly reinforced against wear at its rear portion thanprior heels of the same general type.

Further objects of the invention are in art obvious and in part willappear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings, which represent one suitable embodiment of theinvention, Figure 1 is a bottom plan *viewtFig. 2' is a side elevation;and Fig. 3 is a perspective view from beneath. i

For purposes of illustration the drawings show the invention applied toa heel adapted to be secured to or embodied in the heel of a shoe. Itcomprises a body portion 1 which may be made of rubber, a rubbercomposition, or any other suitable resilient material. and which isprovided with a series of openings '2 through which may be driven nailsor screws for securing it to the shoe. The lower surface of said heel issuitably formed to provide a series of 'transverselv extending saw-teeth3 which in number will vary with the size of the heel and with theparticular effect to be obtained. The drawings show four teeth orprojections. of which the first or the'one at the front of the heel hasits front surface 4 formed by the vertical surface at the front of theheel, while the last saw-tooth has its bottom surface 5 in a horizontalplane substantially co-incident with the sharp edges 6 of the remain-Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 26, 1918.

Serial No. 236,773.

ing teeth. The first three teeth toward the front have their backsurfaces 7 sloping on a long .gradual incline downwardly toward thefront of the heel, where said surfaces intersect along the edges 6 thefront surfaces 8 of said teeth, which may be vertical but are shown asslightly inclined downwardly from the rear toward the front, so that theangle between the surfaces 7 and 8 is slightly less than a right angle.This makes the edges 6 relatively sharp so that they exert a squeegeeeffect on the pavement and cut through and-wipe off water, mud or anyother foreign material lying upon the pavement, and therefore cling orstick to the erally and meeting along the center line of the heel in asharp point or projection 9. When the heel is planted upon the pavementthe inherent resilienc of the material causes these points orprojections to bend downwardly into close or intimate contact with thesurface walked upon. Moreover, each e observed that the teeth or pro' 1Each tooth or projec half of each tooth has a sort of plow action,

as any material which it may scrape up from the pavement slidesalong-the. channel in front of the tooth and is discharged at the sideof the heel. In other words, the

teeth are self-cleaning and not likely to be-.

come clogged with material such as would otherwise interfere with theirsqneegeeaction. Finally, the lateral inclination of said teeth increasesthe area of the horizontal surface 5 at the rear of the heel over whatit would be if the teeth extended straight across'the heel, and therebyforms a wide fiat pad of solid material at the rear of the heel whichmaterially increases its wear re.

sisting ability. This pad always receives the first impact of plantingthe heel upon the pavement, so that reinforcement at this point is ofmaterial advantage.

What I claim is:

1. A heel, comprising a body portion of yielding material having itslower portion provided with a series of ridges extending transversely ofthe heel and each diagonally disposed to the longitudinal axis of theheel, said ridges having a relatively long face sloping forwardly anddownwardly and intersecting along a sharp edge a relatively short facelying in a substantially vertical plane, thereby forming a series ofsaw-teeth having sharp edges which contact the pavement and exert asqueegee efi'ect to prevent slipping of the heel thereon.

2. A heel, comprising a body portion of yielding material having. itslower portion provided with a series of ridges extending laterally andrearwardly toward the sides of the heel from a longitudinal line, saidridges havin a relatively long face sloping for- ,wardly and downwardlyand intersecting along a" sharp edge a relatively short face lying in asubstantially vertical plane, thereloy forming a series of saw-teethhaving sharp edges-which contact the pavement and having sharp edgeswhich contact the paveanent and exert a squeegee efi'ect to preventslipping of the heel thereon. o

In testimony whereof. I affix my si ature.

BLUFORD W. BROC ETT.

in a substantially vertical

